"Hello?" Echizen answered the phone.
"Ryoma-kun?"
"Sakuno?" he replied.
"Umm… are you free tomorrow?" Sakuno asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Ryoma answered. His heart beating faster. Although, his expression did not change and Fuji was left guessing the rest of the conversation.
"So?" Fuji asked. "What did she say?"
"Oh nothing. She just wanted to play a match."
"So it's like a date huh?"
"Not exactly. It's just two friends hanging out."
"Yeah. Sure. You love her and then you try to cover it up by calling her a 'friend'. I'm not called a genius for nothing Ryoma."
"Whatever." Ryoma said as he grabbed a chilled Ponta.
One week later
She couldn't stand sitting like that anymore, so she kicked back her seat and fell asleep, hoping that when she opened her eyes she would be in Paris. But, her dreams did not help in anyway.
SAKUNO'S POV
I called him to play a game. But all I wanted to do was see him one last time before I left to Paris. No one knew about it yet. Not even my best friend Tomoka. I had to tell my grandmother and I had to do it fast. He wouldn't know about anything. All he needed right now was to concentrate on himself. I didn't want to worry him with issues like this. When the time was right, I would tell him.
He waited outside Seigaku. She was ten minutes late. He was starting to get impatient when he saw her running towards him.
"You're late." He remarked.
"Sorry. I had to meet Tezuka-bucho."
It was strange but he decided to let it go.
"I was thinking. How about we go for a movie first?" Sakuno pushed.
Great. Now he was getting nervous. But he composed himself before she could notice that anything was different about him.
"Sure."
He barely knew what the movie was about. He was too excited to be with her. But he didn't let it show.
He walked her home after the movie as it started to rain.
As he walked back home, he got a feeling that something was coming to an end.
Little did he know that it really was.
Fuji was inquisitive. He rushed to Ryoma's class as soon as the lunch bell rang. He wasn't in class. He expected to find him in the cafeteria. But, he wasn't there either. So, he walked up to Ryoma's favourite napping spot. He wasn't there either. So, he decided to meet him during practice.
He was walking back to his class when he bumped into Tezuka.
"Fuji? I need to talk to you. It's about Echizen." Tezuka said.
"Sure" Fuji replied leading Tezuka to a place where they could not be overheard.
"I am aware of everything that has been going on lately and I would suggest that you let Sakuno go without encouraging Echizen to stand as a hurdle in her path."
"What do you mean?"
"I know Echizen is in love with her and I also know that you've been supporting him an awful lot lately. No one else in our school knows how Echizen feels apart from you, Echizen, me and Sakuno."
"Sakuno knows?"
"She does." Tezuka replied and that was all Fuji needed to hear.
That was when he connected the dots. Sakuno knew Echizen loved her and he had seen the way she admired Echizen during practice. She was migrating to Paris and did her best to keep the reason in the dark. She had played her part pretty well. He was positive that he would have to break the news to Echizen. But before he could tell him anything he had to confirm it himself.
He excused himself and dashed to the main office.
"Excuse me sensei, may I make an enquiry?" Fuji asked the receptionist.
"What is it son?" the lady at the counter replied.
"I wanna know which class Ryuzaki Sakuno is in."
"Sure." The receptionist replied. She turned towards her computer and punched in some letters. "I'm sorry son; Ryuzaki Sakuno has applied for a transfer certificate just this morning. Her name is on the list of transfers."
His suspicions were right. He thanked the receptionist and walked towards his class.
He couldn't concentrate on his classes. He was eager to meet Echizen. How could Sakuno just run away? Although there could be many reasons why she did it, he was positive that it was so that she could run away from Ryoma.
He had to know the reason. That was when something struck him. Tomoka had said that she would tell him the reason when Sakuno was too far way to be influenced by him. She was his only hope.
He decided to meet Tomoka before he could speak to Echizen. He was walking to his world history class when he saw Echizen in the nurse's office.
"What happened?" Fuji asked, genuinely concerned for his kohai.
"Nothing. I was trying to teach that good-for-nothing Horio the twist serve and his racquet slipped out of his hand and hit my forearm. Ryuzaki sensei was nearby when that happened and told me to go to the nurse's office for precautionary reasons. She said that she didn't want another person to go into rehabilitation."
"I see. So its nothing serious it is?"
"Not a scratch."
"I'll see you in practice then." Fuji decided it wasn't a good idea to talk to Echizen about her in the nurse's office.
He walked to his class feeling extremely bad for his kohai. He was certain that when Echizen came to know Sakuno had left to Paris without telling him about it first, he would be heartbroken and jump to completely absurd conclusions. But, he was sure that whatever happened next would be upto fate and he could do nothing to change it. He had to be the one to tell Echizen about it. But, he needed a reason to convince Echizen that there was still hope. So, as soon as the bell rang he went to talk to Tomoka only to find her talking to Echizen.